In this article the author discusses the advantages and hardships associated with team teaching pre-calculus and physics. This article outlined the following: the reasoning behind developing a team taught curriculum, the advantages of team teaching, the mechanics of running a team taught curriculum, and an honest assessment of problems and hardships faced by a team taught curriculum. Firstly, the author noticed that there were a lot of areas of overlap and points of reinforcement between pre-calculus and physics (trigonometric functions, pythagorean theorem, vector addition, and degree/radians just to name a few) the author noticed that students had tremendous difficulty transfering knowledge gained in one class to another class especially when it was in a different discipline. The author believed that a team taught physics and pre-calculus class would strengthen the bonds between math and science in the minds of the students and would provide more (not less) opportunities to reenforce the key concepts within the two courses.what made him consider team teaching physics and pre-calculus. Secondly, the author discussed the advantages of team teaching including working with a peer in a collaborative setting, deeper understanding of key concepts and a longer detailed train of thought. Thirdly, the author discussed the advantages of not only team teaching but arranging class schedules so that they occurred back to back. Fourthly, the author talked about the problems of setting up an effective team teaching curriculum. Adminstration resistance and scheduling resistance are addressed.
I had never really considered team teaching physics and pre-calculus but I think it would be amazing. I find myself teaching alot of the mathematics in my classes. This is not due to poor teaching by the mathematics teachers but is instead due to the way that there curriculum is set up. The students are often taught the math after I have taught the material that needed that math. If the courses were team taught it would be possible to address those issues. However, most school have rotating blocks which would make back to back physics and mathematics courses almost impossible. Furthermore, the trimester schedule would make a team taught course a scheduling nightmare. Perhaps I will develop some contacts within the math department and start to team teach in an informal way. If that proves successful than a more formal program could be worked out.
In this article the author discusses the advantages and hardships associated with team teaching pre-calculus and physics. This article outlined the following: the reasoning behind developing a team taught curriculum, the advantages of team teaching, the mechanics of running a team taught curriculum, and an honest assessment of problems and hardships faced by a team taught curriculum. Firstly, the author noticed that there were a lot of areas of overlap and points of reinforcement between pre-calculus and physics (trigonometric functions, pythagorean theorem, vector addition, and degree/radians just to name a few) the author noticed that students had tremendous difficulty transfering knowledge gained in one class to another class especially when it was in a different discipline. The author believed that a team taught physics and pre-calculus class would strengthen the bonds between math and science in the minds of the students and would provide more (not less) opportunities to reenforce the key concepts within the two courses.what made him consider team teaching physics and pre-calculus. Secondly, the author discussed the advantages of team teaching including working with a peer in a collaborative setting, deeper understanding of key concepts and a longer detailed train of thought. Thirdly, the author discussed the advantages of not only team teaching but arranging class schedules so that they occurred back to back. Fourthly, the author talked about the problems of setting up an effective team teaching curriculum. Adminstration resistance and scheduling resistance are addressed.
I had never really considered team teaching physics and pre-calculus but I think it would be amazing. I find myself teaching alot of the mathematics in my classes. This is not due to poor teaching by the mathematics teachers but is instead due to the way that there curriculum is set up. The students are often taught the math after I have taught the material that needed that math. If the courses were team taught it would be possible to address those issues. However, most school have rotating blocks which would make back to back physics and mathematics courses almost impossible. Furthermore, the trimester schedule would make a team taught course a scheduling nightmare. Perhaps I will develop some contacts within the math department and start to team teach in an informal way. If that proves successful than a more formal program could be worked out.
external link: http://www3.nsta.org/main/news/stories/science_teacher.php?category_ID=88&news_story_ID=53246